Database Reference
In-Depth Information
9.1.1. What is Spring and how is SDN related to it?
Spring (
http://projects.spring.io/spring-framework
)
is a very popular Java-based applica-
tion development framework that provides productivity tools and utilities for Java deve-
lopers.
Spring itself has many subprojects dealing with different areas, one of which is Spring
Data. Within Spring Data, one of the projects is SDN. The engineers at Pivotal (formerly
SpringSource) recognized that there were many data-access frameworks available for use
with traditional RDBMS databases, but not so many in the brave new world of NoSQL.
The open source Spring Data project was developed as an umbrella project, with multiple
subprojects being created to provide logic for specific databases (the first of which was
SDN,whereEmilEifremandRodJohnsonworkedontheinitialdraft).OtherNoSQLnew-
comers in this space include MongoDB and Redis.
Inallcases,developersfrombothPivotalandtheunderlyingdatabasehelpedgettheframe-
works to where they are today. All Spring Data projects leverage the existing good prac-
tices and proven functionality available within the core Spring framework to provide their
flavors of data-accessing logic.
9.1.2. What is SDN good for (and not good for)?
By its very nature, SDN provides a convenient way to work with code or libraries that
need or expect to operate on POJO-based domain entities. If you're already using Spring,
or you're already using a rich domain model that you want to map to a graph, SDN could
be for you.
Besides simply having, or wanting to work with, a rich domain model, another key consid-
eration to take into account with SDN is the nature of, and number of, results or entities
you're typically going to be dealing with. If it's in the region of a few hundred to a few
thousandatatime,thisscenariocouldlenditselfwelltoanSDNsetup.SDNisn'tsuitedto
scenarios where you'll need to perform any kind of mass data handling in a single go. Any
logic where you have to load or store more than about 10,000 elements in a single swoop
isn'tagoodcandidateforSDN.Additionally,byprovidingalayerofindirection,SDNwill
